As Generation Z Comes of Age, What Does It Mean For The Rest of Us?
Posted By Cliff Tuttle | September 20, 2015
No. 1,219
SUMMARY: Generation Z, which is starting to enter college, is reputed to be the most digital generation yet, with an attention span of eight seconds.
We, the Baby Boomers, haven’t even figured out the differences among Gen X, Gen Y, Millenials (if that’s something different) and now (ta-da!) Generation Z.
There have been a few articles in the national media about the subject, but they aren’t that enlightening. You can Google them if you are interested.
As best I can discern, the up and coming group is digitally adept, just like their predecessors, only more so. They are comfortable with everything out there and ready for the next wave and the one after. According to Fast Company, they have an attention span of eight seconds. This is not necessarily bad. If you can get the gist in eight seconds and move on, that’s great.
The freshmen class in the universities of the world are, according to these articles, getting the first wave of Generation Z. This group, which grew up in the 21st Century, won’t have much patience with us old timers unless we get to the point. Those of us who get business through the internet will see it first. Unless we can state our case succinctly and persuasively in eight seconds, we will lose them.
And so, in recognition of this trend — which is infecting all of us in various degrees, I am commencing immediately to place an eight second summary at the head of every blog post and every other document where a summary makes sense.
By the way, does anybody have any idea what will come after the letter Z?
CLT